1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses and methods consistent with the present invention relate to superheating working fluid and delivering the superheated working fluid to a condenser of an air conditioning system, and more particularly, to using solar energy to superheat the working fluid prior to delivery to the condenser.
2. Description of the Related Art
Air conditioning systems on the market today use a compressor to compress a working fluid such as a refrigerant, packing the molecules of the working fluid closer together thus raising the energy and temperature of the working fluid. As shown in the related art air conditioning system (100) of FIG. 1, working fluid arrives at the compressor (101) as a cool, low-pressure gas. The compressor (101) is powered by electricity to mechanically squeeze the working fluid, and the squeezing results in packing the molecules of the working fluid closer together. The closer the molecules of the working fluid are together, the higher the working fluid's energy and temperature.
After compression, the working fluid leaves the compressor (101) as a hot, high-pressure gas and flows into a condenser (102). The gas enters the condenser (102) and begins cooling and changing back into a liquid at the bottom one-third of the coils of the condenser (102). When the working fluid leaves the condenser (102) as a semi liquid, its temperature is much cooler and its state has changed from a gas to a semi-liquid under high pressure. This semi-liquid is sent into an evaporator (104) through a metering device (103) that controls the dispensing rate of the semi-liquid working fluid to the evaporator (104). Within the evaporator (104), the semi-liquid's pressure drops and the semi-liquid begins to evaporate into a gas. As the semi-liquid changes to gas and evaporates, heat is extracted from the surrounding air. This heat is needed for separating the molecules of the working fluid in its transformation of state from semi-liquid to gas. By the time the working fluid leaves the evaporator (104), it is a cool, low-pressure gas. The working fluid then returns to the compressor (101) as the cool, low-pressure gas to begin this cycle all over again.
In the air conditioning system of FIG. 1, a fan (not shown) is used to discharge the hot air emanating from the coils of the condenser (102) to the outside, while cold air emanating from the coils of the evaporator (104) is blown into the space to be cooled.
Low temperature, low-pressure refrigerant as the working fluid is delivered to the compressor (101). Different refrigerants have different temperature points and characteristics when used in the related art air conditioning system (100). The related art air conditioning system (100) uses the compressor (101) to increase the pressure on the gaseous state working fluid, thus also heating the working fluid, and sends the heated working fluid to the condenser (102) where the working fluid becomes a semi-liquid after traveling through the coils of the condenser (102). As shown in FIG. 2, the working fluid in a hot, high-pressure gaseous state is forced into the top of the coils of the condenser (102) (i.e., the condenser/condensing coil) located outside. Air blowing across the coils condenses the working fluid from the gas into a semi-liquid state and in this conversion from gas to semi-liquid, heat is released into the outside air.
The change of state of the working fluid from gas to semi-liquid typically starts to occur approximately two-thirds of the way down the coils of the condenser (102). Thus, the related art air conditioning system (100) only changes a portion of the gas into a liquid state, so the working fluid is actually in the form of a saturated vapor (semi-liquid) when the working fluid enters into the metering device (103). The working fluid is delivered to the metering device (103) as a saturated vapor.
Although the size of the condenser (102) in the related art air conditioning system (100) may be increased in order to increase the pressure and temperature of the working fluid when compressed, it is not practical to use a super compressor or even an oversized condenser coil due to the expenditure of an excessive amount of electricity, high equipment cost and undesirable equipment size.
As shown in FIG. 3, the working fluid enters the metering device (103) and is sent to the evaporator (104) in a cold, semi-liquid state. Warm air from inside the house boils and vaporizes the cold working fluid and its state changes into a gas. When the working fluid boils, a lot of heat is absorbed in the process. This is called the latent heat of vaporization and makes for very efficient heat transfer. The working fluid is a good material for use in heat transfer due to its property of being a gas at atmospheric pressure, its ability to absorb a lot of heat when it boils and giving off a lot of heat when it condenses. The warm air from inside the house is drawn into and passed through the coils of the evaporator (104) where it cools, and the cooler air is then sent back into the house. As such, the evaporating of the semi-liquid state working fluid at a very low boiling point results in the removal of the heat from the warm air inside the house.
The related art air conditioning system (100) is designed to change only a relatively small portion of the gaseous state working fluid into the liquid state so that when the working fluid enters into the metering device (103) the working fluid is in the state of a saturated vapor (semi-liquid). In this related art air conditioning system (100), the compressor (101) is relied upon to deliver a volume of working fluid to the condenser (102) as a saturated vapor under high pressure. The volume of the working fluid in the related art air conditioning system (100) affects the capacity of the system for heat removal. The temperature and the pressure of the gaseous state working fluid entering the condenser (102) have a direct bearing on the characteristics of the working fluid at the output of the condenser (102), in that the hotter and higher-pressured the gas is at the input of the condenser (102), the colder and more transformed to liquid is the working fluid leaving the condenser (102). More specifically, the hotter the gas at the input of the condenser (102), the higher the percentage of gas being changed into liquid under high pressure.
However, the compressor (101) of the related art air conditioning system (100) is limited by the amount of pressurization that it can practically provide. As such, due to the limit on the provided pressure, the temperature of the working fluid exiting the compressor (101) is also limited to a relatively cool temperature.